      STANDARD
      BEARER
c          A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                         9





       So it is distinguishing- grace alone
     which makes men to differ; and al-
     though it could be said that the proxi-
     mate cause of this hardening is to `be
     found in  ma& sinful heart, still the
     ultimate cause is God's sovereign de-
     cree of reprobation.

                        See "Studies In Isaiah" -
                                                                  `Pfz
                                                                         a  e'


c                                        votume  ttv, No;  4;               P5,1977  1
                                                       l66N 0362-4692


74                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                 Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                      Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                           Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
                                                                             Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                             CONTENTS:                                       Department  Editors:   Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma,
                                                                             Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko. Rev. Robert C. Harbach,
                                                                             Rev. John A.  Heys, Rev. Mark H. Hoeksema, Rev. Meindert Joostens,
Meditation  -                                                                Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Rodney  Miersma,
                                                                             Rev.  Marinus   Schipper, Rev. James  Slopsema,  Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren,
      Our Fall in Paradise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74     Rev. Ronald Van Overloop, Rev. Herman  Veldman,  Mr. Kenneth G.
                                                                             Vink.
Editorials -                                                                 Editorial  Office:  Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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      The Origin of the Name "Protestants" . . . . . . . .77                                       Grandville.  Michigan 49418
      Publication News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78     Church  News  Editor:  Mr. Kenneth G. Vink
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MEDITA  TIO N


                                                                                 n                    1.
                                           Our  Fall  in  raraalse
                                                                   Rev. C Hanko

                   Whence then proceeds this depravity of human nature?
                   From the .fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise; hence our
                nature is become so corrupt, that we are all conceived and born in sin.
                                                                              Heid. Catechism, Lord's Day III, Question 7.
      This depravity.                                                          declares that we are wicked, that is, that our motives
      Our fathers make no effort to spare us when they                         are always purely selfish, that we love sin, and that
speak of the extent of our sins and miseries. Have you                        we transgress God's law continually with the lust of
ever stopped to consider the various terms that they
use in describing our present misery? In Lord's Day II                        the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.
`hey assert that the very inclination of-our nature is                        No, even that language was not strong enough to suit
only to r-rate; to hate God and to hate everyone with                          our instructors. To that terrible indictment they
whom we come in contact from day to day. That                                  added the dreadful word `perverse.' We are also
includes those whom we profess to love most dearly.                            perverse, stubborn, rebellious in our very nature,
In the first question of this Lord's Day our Catechism                        rejecting God and His holy Word at every turn of the


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  75


way, always determined to give vent to the evil              came and spoke to our first parents at this tree of life,
passions that burn within us.                                and that there they kept Sabbath, somewhat as we do
  The very thought makes us shudder. Yet the saints          in church on Sunday. At the tree of life they
of old did not hesitate to make these charges, even :as      experienced that the loving-kindness of their God was
they were led by the Holy Scriptures and the tes-            more to them than their daily food and drink.
timony of the Spirit in their hearts. The question and          The other tree that stood in the center of paradise
answer we are now discussing speaks of `the depravity        was the tree of the knowledge of good and of evil. As
of our  human"nature,' and adds that the corruption          the one tree was the Tree of Life, so this other tree
of our nature must be traced back to the earliest            was the Tree of Death. God had forbidden Adam to
moment of our existence. We are depraved, innately           eat of that tree, with the warning that at the moment
bad, corrupt, lewd, immoral, like an apple that may          that he would eat of it he would surely die. Its very
appear sound on the outside, but is rotten at the core.      name told Adam that God expected implicit love and
                                                             obedience from him. In covenant love to God he
  Our first reaction might very well be, that this is a      :must persistently refuse to eat of the forbidden tree,
hard doctrine, who can believe it? Reluctantly we            simply because God said so. Refusing to eat he would'
might be willing to grant that this is true of the scum      experience the good, the blessedness of obedience,
of humanity, the drug-addicted, immoral hippies who          which carried away  God's approval. On the other
live like swine in the mire, or of the criminals and         hand, if he would reach out his hand in rebellion to
sadists of the world. We might be inclined to brush          God's command, and take of the forbidden fruit, he
this charge aside with a feeling that it gives us nothing    would know evil. He would know sin, and experience
more than a pessimistic outlook on humanity. We              the misery of God's severe judgment upon the sinner.
might want to plead that there surely must be a lot of       Adam and Eve must have understood that obedience
good in the worst of us,. and that this good should          in love was good, was a constant knowing, experienc-
receive more emphasis. We might even raise to our            ing the goodness of God. While on the other hand,
defence that all this might have been true at one time,      disobedience was evil, carrying with it the evil horrors
but now that grace abounds in our lives our very             of death. they must have understood this, even
nature has changed and greatly improved. But our             though they could not have understood the misery
fathers know nothing of this. With Scripture as their        that accompanies this living death throughout the
guide they maintain that there is none that doeth            generations.
good as he is by nature, no, not one. We are of
ourselves prone to hate, we are wicked and perverse,            The Temptation.
we are depraved,  even"corrupt.  Our Baptism Form               Scripture gives us a clear account of the tempta-
urges us "to loathe and humble ourselves before God,         tion, with which we are all acquainted. Certainly no
and seek for our purification and salvation without          one could express it better than God's own language
ourselves." We learn to say with David, "For I               in Genesis 3. Anyone who believes an infallible
acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever            -Scripture, divinely inspired, must also believe that
before me." We understand Paul when he brands                there was literally a Satan, a wicked, fallen angel. He
himself as the chief of sinners, and we readily              must believe that Satan literally found an instrument
acknowledge, "For I know that in me (that is, in my          in the serpent, which was created with a gift of
flesh) dwelleth no good thing."                              speech. He must also believe that Satan spoke to Eve
  Whence this depravity?                                     through the serpent, tempting her to eat of the
                                                             forbidden tree, which actually stood in paradise.
  Our Catechism asks, "Whence then proceeds this             What impresses us, possibly even more than a literal
depravity of human nature?" To answer that question          interpretation of this entire event, is the fact that
we go back to paradise; this time, not as before to          Satan is given by God access to paradise, is given the
marvel at the state of righteousness in which we were        `instrument of the serpent, is given opportunity to
created, but to weep.                                        approach Eve with his temptation. The sovereign
  Two trees stood in the center of the garden of             `God did not merely allow these things to happen. In
Eden. One of these was the tree of life. This tree of        fact, I am thankful to my God that He never for a
life gave the center of the garden an atmosphere of the      moment turns His back upon the happenings of this
Holy of Holies, where Adam and Eve experienced in            present time, but sovereignly rules over all by His
a very special way intimate communion of life with           almighty providence. I am grateful that the fall was
God. This was a memento to them of the fact that             not an accident, and that there are no accidents in
they received their daily bread from God's hand. It          God's plan of the ages, but that all things, including
was also a constant reminder of their Sovereign              the fall in paradise, are a part of God's eternal,
Friend, Who in boundless covenant love had created           sovereign plan of redemption to the glory of His
them as His friend-servants. I like to think that God        Name. Eternally before -the face of God stands


 76                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


Christ, by Whom all things were created, through           the evil, you must eat of this tree. The reason your
Whom God carries out the counsel of His sovereign          God is keeping it from you is because He knows that
will, unto Whom are all things, that to God may be         the day you eat of that tree your eyes will be opened,
the glory forever. Colossians 1: 13-20.                    you will be independent, even as God, to choose for
       There were, as it were, three phases in Satan's     yourself good or evil. Yes, the devil seems so sincere
temptation of Eve. Satan chose the ready tool, the         in seeking Eve's good that she weighs his words
serpent, which was able to communicate with man.           intently.
We have possibly a faint resemblance to this com-             Now follows the final step. Eve is really not so
munication in the manner in which a dog now                naive that she believes these lies. She knows better.
"speaks" to man. The devil chose to approach Eve,          She ,knows that she is in the wrong company, that she
because she did not stand in the responsible position      is being unfaithful to her God as well as to her
in which Adam stood over against God. She likely was       husband. But she is ensnared. She knows no way out.
also the weaker vessel. And, if Satan could win Eve to     For the first time the fruit of the tree has a strong
his side, he could use her to approach Adam. Eve was       appeal to her. It's beautiful. It must be luscious. Her
not surprised that the serpent spoke to her. What          mouth waters, her hand reaches out. She throws
should have put her on her guard was the subject he        caution to the wind. Let the consequences be what
wanted to discuss. Eve must have realized at once          they may. She takes the fruit, she bites into it, and
that this was no mere chit-chat about the trees of the     for the moment experiences that stolen waters are
garden. Her attention was being drawn to the for-          sweet. No sooner is she finished than she is aware of
bidden tree, and she was being tempted. At this point      the voice of conscience, but also of the serious con-
she should have refused to discuss such a serious          sequences of her offence. Never again can she love her
matter with the serpent, or at least have called her       husband in his sinless state. Their marriage has struck
husband, but she preferred to handle this in her own       disaster. As a friend of Satan and as an enemy of God
way. The question appeared innocent enough. You            and of her husband she goes out to make Adam like
may eat of all the trees of the garden, may you not?       unto her sinful self. He must become even as she, an
Yet it was a barbed question with serious implica-         enemy of God, wicked and perverse, depraved, corrupt
tions. If not this one tree, why not? This tree also is    to the very core of his existence, dead in sin.
obviously good for food. Why should God withhold             Reading this sad account of the fall of our first
this good tree from you? Is it fair?                       parents, we are reminded that Satan still tempts in
   Eve avoids mentioning the name of the tree,             the very same way. He arouses in us that rebellious
merely referring to it as the tree in the midst of the     question, Why mayn't I? We whimper that we are
garden. There is a tone of resentment in her voice; she    hedged in; we cannot do anything. Next arises the
even exaggerates as she says, we may not eat of it, we     thought that there cannot be real harm in sinning; we
may not even touch it. With a bit of hesitancy she         can get away with it. Why not? And then the final
admits that God might punish them with death. "Lest        plunge, sin is good, I must sin, I need to satisfy that
we die."                                                   deep desire within. I want that more than anything
   Eve has already fallen. She has taken matters into      else, at least for the moment. The epistle of John
                                                           speaks of the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh,
her own hands, matters that pertained as much to her       and the pride of life.
husband as to her, and she was supposed to be his
helper! She had given in too much. She questions the         Adam stood in paradise as our representative head.
right, the justice of God in demanding implicit obedi-     Our Catechism never questions for a moment that his
ence from her.                                             guilt passes through the generations from father to
                                                           son. Adam was also our first father, so that his
  The second phase of the temptation must follow.          depraved nature is transferred to his children in the
  We marvel at the defiant boldness of Satan, con-         line of generations. We hang. our heads in shame,
tradicting God by saying, "Ye shall not surely die."       confessing with Paul, "Wherefore, as by one man sin
He makes God a liar, and Eve calmly listens to such        entered into the world, and death by sin; and so
outright blasphemy. She does not run away. She             death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. "
stays.                                                     (Romans 5: 12). With David we say, "Behold, I was
  Now the devil adds insult to injury. Your God is         shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
not seeking your good as your covenant Friend. Let         me." ,
me tell you what is good. The wretched deceiver              Lost, hopelessly lost in sin. But God came. He
makes a play upon the name of the tree of the              made the move for our redemption. He came to
knowledge of good and evil. If you want to know            Adam and Eve with Christ. He called them to Him,
both good and evil, if you want the freedom to             even as we now hear the voice of Jesus calling,
,decide for yourself whether you will do the good or       "Come unto Me, and I will give thee rest."


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 77


EDITORIALS
Prof H. C. Hoeksema




                       The Origin of the Name "Protestants"                                          .
   As sons and daughters of the Reformation, we are        was to be introduced. Further, in those places where
called Protestants.                                        the edict of Worms had already been transgressed and
  Do you know the origin of that name?                     where it was not very well possible to enforce it,
                                                           there was to be no further spread of the new doctrine
   While most of us probably readily connect that          of the Reformation. No Roman Catholic might be
name with the Reformation of the sixteenth century,        accepted into the congregations of the Reformation.
there are probably not many of us who are                  There was to be no discussion by the  Evangelicals
acquainted with the specific historical origin of it.      concerning the points of difference with regard to the
Nevertheless that origin is worth knowing: for it is       faith. And the authority of the bishops was not to be
intimately connected with the very principle of the        hindered.
Reformation.                                                 The effect of these decisions of 1529, should they
   To understand this we must go back to the early         be enforced, would be devastating. The further spread
history of the Reformation in Germany.                     of the cause. of the Reformation would be effectually
   At the Diet of Worms in 1521 - the occasion when        halted. In Roman Catholic territories the doctrine of
Dr. Martin Luther was challenged to give account of        the Reformation might not be proclaimed. And
his faith and when he ended with the well-known            where there were already churches of the Reforma-
words, "Here I stand; I can do no otherwise, God           tion, no effort might be put forth to make converts
help me, Amen!" - at that Diet every measure was           or to accept members from the Roman Catholic
taken to crush the movement of the Reformation             Church. If these decisions would be enforced, the
completely. These efforts, however, failed. The Lord       Reformation would be smothered in its cradle.
took care of His own cause. In spite of the edicts of        Against these decisions of the second Diet of
men and in spite of all the opposition of the prince of    Spires, the Evangelical princes and nobles protested.
darkness, the cause of the Reformation went forward.       It is worthy of note that this protest originated not in
Many were liberated from the power of Rome and             the church and not with the spiritual leaders of the
found peace and salvation in the gospel of Jesus           church, but with the princes and nobles, the political
Christ. Not only the laity but also the clergy, not        leaders and authorities of that day. It is also worthy
only the poor and the weak, but also princes and           of note that this protest was registered by a small
mighty men embraced the cause of the Reformation.          minority over against a great and powerful majority,
One of the results of this rapid growth was the fact
that at the Diet of Spires, 1526, the power of the         not only a majority of those assembled at the Diet of
opposition had to give in; and it was decided, in          Spires, but a majority which included the power of
effect, that every prince would be free to regulate the    the king, the pope, and the emperor.
matter of religion in his own realm and territory. In        It is from this protest that our name "Protestant"
other words, a measure of freedom of religion was          originated: from that time forward those who ad-
decreed by that Diet, something which could only be        hered to the Reformation were called Protestants.
to the benefit of the Reformation.                           Because that document of protest is a beautiful,
  Matters did not remain thus, however. The second         highly spiritual, godly document, which gives expres-
Diet of Spires gathered in 1529. In the interim            sion to the true motivation and the formal principle
between the first and the second Diet of Spires the        of the Reformation in a very precise way, it is worth
Pope and Charles V had ironed out their differences,       our while, as sons and daughters of the Reformation,
and the latter had sworn to devote all his power to        to review this protest and to be reminded of the
root out the Reformation. The result was that the          origin of our name. The protest was as follows:
second Diet of Spires in 1529 revoked the decisions
of 1526, and thus revoked the slight degree of             "Dear Lord, Cousins, Uncles, and Friends -
religious liberty which had been granted at that time.       "Having repaired to this Diet at the summons of
It was decided that in every place in which the edict      his majesty, and for the common good of the empire
.of Worms; 1521, had gone into operation, no change        and of Christendom, we have heard and learned that.


78                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


the decisions of the last Diet concerning our holy           on us. And although it is universally known that in
Christian faith are to be revealed, and that it is           our states the holy sacrament of the body and blood
proposed to substitute for them certain restrictive          of our Lord is becomingly administered, we cannot
and onerous resolutions.                                     adhere to what the edict proposes against the Sacra-
      "King Ferdinand and the other imperial com-            mentarians, seeing that the imperial edict did not
missaries, by affixing their seals to the last recess of     speak of them, that they have not been heard, and
Spires, had promised, however, in the name of the            that we cannot resolve upon such important points
emperor, to carry out sincerely and inviolably all that      before the next council.
it contained, and to permit nothing that was contrary           "Moreover, the new edict declaring the minister
to it. In like manner also, you and we, electors,            shall preach the gospel, explaining it according to the
princes, prelates, lords, and deputies of the empire,        writings accepted by the holy Christian church, we
bound ourselves to maintain always and with our              think that for this regulation to have any value, we
whole might every article of that decree.                    should first agree on what is meant by the true and
                                                             holy church. Now, seeing that there is great diversity
      "We cannot therefore consent to its repeal:            of opinion in this respect; that there is no sure
      "Firstly, because we believe that his imperial         doctrine but such as is conformable to the word of
majesty, as well as you and we, is called to maintain        God; that the Lord forbids the teaching of any other
firmly what has been unanimously and solemnly                doctrine; that each text of the holy Scriptures ought
resolved.                                                    to be explained by other and clearer texts; that this
      "Secondly, because it concerns the glory of God        holy book is in all things necessary for the Christian,
and the salvation of our souls, and that in such matters     easy of understanding, and calculated to scatter the
we ought to have regard, above all, to the command-          darkness, we are resolved, with the grace of God, to
ment of God, Who is King of kings and Lord of lords;         maintain the pure and exclusive preaching of his only
each of us rendering him account for himself, without        word, such as it is contained in the biblical books of
caring the least in the world, about majority or             the Old and New Testament, without adding anything
minority.                                                    thereto that may be contrary to it. This word is the
      "We form no judgment on that which concerns            only truth; it is the sure rule of all doctrine and of all
you, most dear lords; and we are content to pray God         life, and can never fail or deceive us. He who builds
daily that he will bring us all to unity of faith, in        on this foundation shall stand against all the powers
truth, charity, and holiness, through Jesus Christ, our      of hell, while all the human vanities that are set up
throne of grace and our only Mediator.                       against it shall fall before the face of God.
      "But in what concerns ourselves, adhesion to your        "For these reasons, most dear lords, uncles, cous-
resolution - and let every honest man be judge - we          ins, and friends, we earnestly entreat  .you to weigh
would be acting against our conscience, condemning           carefully our grievances and our motives. If you do
doctrine that we maintain to be Christian, and pro-          not yield to our request, we PROTEST by these
nouncing that it ought to be abolished in our states, if     presents, before God, our only Creator, Preserver,
we could do so without trouble.                              Redeemer, and Saviour, and who will one day be our
                                                             Judge, as well as before all men and all creatures, that
      "This would be to deny our Lord Jesus Christ, to       we, for us and for our people, neither consent nor
reject his holy word, and thus give him just reason to       adhere in any manner whatsoever to the proposed
deny us in turn before his Father as he has threat-          decree, in anything that is contrary  ,to God, to his
ened.                                                        holy word, to our right conscience, to the salvation of
      "What, we ratify this edict! We assert that when       our souls, and to the last decree of Spires.
Almighty God calls a man to his knowledge, this man             "At the same time we are in expectation that his
nevertheless cannot receive the knowledge of God?            imperial majesty will behave towards us like a Chris-
Oh, of what deadly back&dings should we not thus             ,tian prince who loves God above all things; and we
become the accomplices, not only among our own               declare ourselves ready to pay unto him , as well as
subjects, but also among yours.                              unto you, gracious lords, all the affection and obedi-
      "For this reason we reject the yoke that is imposed    ence that are our just and legitimate duty."

                                             Publication News
  We are happy to report that "When I Survey. . . . "        viously published, but now out of print, Lenten
is finally on the market. This, you will recall, is the      works of the late Herman Hoeksema. This marks
.Lenten anthology which includes all six of the  pre-        another important milestone in one of the projects of


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  79



our Publications Committee, namely, to publish and          Gertrude Hoeksema's new Bible teachers' manual,
make available to `the Reformed community as many           Suffer Little Children, Book One.  In case you
as possible of the writings, both previously published      couldn't decipher our ad because of the printing
and yet unpublished, of Rev. Hoeksema.                      mistake in it, this manual covers the first half of Old
  Our hard-working Business Manager asked me to             Testament history. You can get this helpful manual
inform all those who took advantage of our  pre-            for $8.95 plus 45s postage.
publication sale of this book that he is delivering and        More news!
getting your copies into the mail as fast as he possibly
can. If you ordered a copy, you may expect it in the           Suffer Little Children, Book Two,  which will cover
                                                            the second half of Old Testament history and which
very near future. In fact, by the time this appears in      is designed especially for teachers of Grade 2 chil-
print most of you should have your copies.                  dren, will be off the press in the very near future.
  By the way, if you did not order a copy at the            There will be a companion pupil workbook with this
pre-publication sale price, you can, of course, get a       volume. The teachers' manual will cost $5.95, and the
copy. Only you will now have to pay the full price of       workbook will cost $2.00. The combination of man-
$9.95 plus 451$ postage. Considering that this is six       ual and workbook will sell for $6.95. How's that for
good books in one, that's still a bargain! Order your       an attractive deal! Get your order in now, and be sure
copy promptly from: Reformed Free Publishing                to include 45~ for postage. Same address as above.
Association, P.G. Box 2006, Grand Rapids, Michigan
49501. Wouldn't this book make a dandy Christmas               One more item. But that's a secret yet. Watch these
present for someone?                                        columns and also your mail for some really big
                                                            publication news, From whom? Who else but Re-
  We remind you, too, to order your copy of                 formed Free Publishing Association?

STUDIES   IN  ISAIAH




                           `The  Command  to  Isaiah
                                              Rev. Robt. C. Harbach

   1. Isaiah 6:9-13  Its' Declaration  that his labors      speech? even because ye cannot hear My words" (Jn.
would be negative, and, as to the people, in the form       8:43); and further, "My word hath no place in you"
of a command ordaining their judgment: "and He              (v. 37); and still further reason is found in v. 44, "Ye
said, Go and say thou to this people, Hear ye               are of your father and the devil . . . He that is of God
continually, but perceive not" (v. 9). "This people"        heareth God's words; ye therefore hear them not
refers to Isaiah's people of unclean lips. They' are        because ye are not of God" (v. 47). Also, "Ye believe
those among the organic whole of "His people"               not because ye are not of My sheep" (10:26X
(5:25) whom the Lord will not call "My people."
They would hear the preaching of the Word of                   So they heard the Word incarnate himself preach-
Jehovah, but not to their salvation. That word would        ing among them, but they did not understand Him.
be to them a savor of death unto death. This is one         They saw with their eyes His wonders, His raising the
side of the polarization caused by the preaching of         dead, cleansing the lepers, giving sight to the blind
                                                            and hearing to the deaf; but they did not perceive
the word. On this side, God's Word is sovereignly           that He was the divine Messiah.
prohibitory and hardening, forbidding to understand,
and rendering them so blind that they would not even           "Make fat the heart of this people and its ears
care to understand. They saw all the miracles that the      make heavy, and its eyes smear over (with paste, i.e.,
Lord had done before their eyes, and had heard the          make blind), lest it shall see with its eyes, and with its
gracious words that fell from His lips. But also to         ears shall hear, and its heart understand, and turn and
them, in effect, it had to be said, "Yet the Lord hath      (there be) healing to it" (v. 10). The sigh of the eye,
not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see         the hearing ear, the understanding heart and turning
and ears to hear, unto this day" (Dt. 29:2-4). In fact,     `to the Lord are all sovereign gifts of God. With the
as Jesus put it, "Why do ye not understand My,              gift of spiritual sight, the sinner sees he is a sinner,


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then turns to repent. With the gift of hearing, or ears       whom hath the Arm of the Lord been revealed?'
of the heart, the sinner believes and embraces what he        Therefore they could not believe (why not?) because
hears to his salvation. But these gifts, Isaiah is told,      that Isaiah said again, `He hath blinded their eyes, and
shall be withheld from "this people." Men will be             hardened their hearts (not because they rejected the
commanded and held responsible to hear and believe.           Lord and refused to believe in Him  - the popular
But they will not be able to do as commanded and              thinking; but)  that they should  not see with their
held responsible. For the effect of Isaiah's ministry         eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be con-
will be to cause a hardening of the heart of the              verted, and I should heal them." This is plain
nation, so that there will be no possibility of its being     Scripture and should be enough (it is enough for true
saved, even by the preaching of that which in itself is       faith!), but there is more, in Matt. 11:25-26. "At that
for the salvation of His church. Men would be made            time Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, 0 Father,
callous so that they will not believe, will not care to       Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid
believe, will refuse to believe, will not be able to          these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
believe. Still, God would hold them responsible               revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it
for all this, including their inability. "But they refused    seemed good in Thy sight." Jesus was not annoyed
to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped         nor disappointed when He was rejected, when whole
their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made         cities were unmoved, remaining unconverted at His
their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear       preaching. Neither did He complain against God's
the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath           sovereign proceedings in hiding and revealing the
sent in His Spirit by the former prophets; therefore          gospel. Rather, He gives praise and thanks to God for
came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts" (Zech.             His sovereignty in bringing about this state of things.
7: 1 l-l 2).                                                  He rejoices over it (Lk.  10:21), and glorifies the
                                                              Father for it, acknowledging that what the sovereign
   The purpose and end of Isaiah's preaching "is a            Lord does is right. The Father and the Son conceal
negative end: . . . people must not turn from their           and reveal, choose and refuse men as They will to do
sins to God, for if they turn, they will be healed.           (25, 27). This is the clear, irrefutable Word of God,
Strange . . . the ways of . . . God!" He commands all         and childlike faith will unquestioningly receive it and
men everywhere to repent and believe. "At the same            believe it.
time He sends forth" a preacher "to prevent this . . .
from occurring. He opposes the Word of God with               2. Its Duration.  "Then I said, `How long, 0 Lord
the Word of God," and so it is "necessary that some           (Adonai)?' And He said, Until that when cities he laid
                                                              waste without a dweller, and houses without a man,
do not hear (savingly - RCH) that word . . . In His           and the land become waste, a desolation" (v. 11).
mysterious wisdom God had foreordained that this              First, spiritual death is prophesied, then material ruin.
people would not respond to the blessed overtures of          Then "how long" means not, How long must I endure
the gospel. In His sovereign good pleasure . . . not          this hard task in preaching this hard saying, but, How
ordaining them unto eternal life, and" in the way of          long is this state of Israel's in hardness and death to
their sin "ordained them to dishonor and wrath"               continue? As the psalmist, he asks God,  .Will He
(E.J. Young). So it is distinguishing grace alone             always chide? Will He keep His anger forever? Will He
which makes men to differ; and although it could be           be favorable no more? Is  His mercy clean gone
said that the proximate cause of this hardening is to         forever? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Isaiah
be found in man's sinful heart, still the ultimate cause      submits- to the state of things under the divine
is God's sovereign decree of reprobation.                     judgments, and purposes with all his heart to be
  But  almost  all  the Bible commentators have               faithful to the burden of the Word placed on him to
weakened and corrupted this truth. Most of them               proclaim. But he has a holy anxiety and love for his
speak of this as a  judicial  hardening, that is, God         kinsmen according to the flesh (Rom. 9:1-3). He
hardened their hearts because they had first hard-            neither coldly and stoically delivered himself of his
ened their own hearts to forsake Him and His truth.           responsibility to the truth, nor did he in any way
But, Isaiah's prophecy deals with not a judicial but a        compromise the truth, nor fail to present the whole
sovereign  hardening. As in Rom. 9: 18, "whom He              truth, including "the severity of God," out of natural
will He hardens," not "He hardens all who refuse Him          affection for Israel. It is always true love to preach
and His truth;" This sovereign hardening of sinner's          uncompromisingly the whole counsel of God, no
hearts, in distinction from judicial hardening, is not a      matter the cost or consequences, and to do so
truth isolated in Scripture. John 12:37-40 is full of it.     in a gracious manner. Not some political or mil-
"Bu& though He had done so many miracles before               itary figure, but a man like Isaiah is "A Man Called
them, yet they believed not on Him: that the saying           Intrepid" because he has the indomitable courage to
of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he            preach exactly the word God bids him, even though
spake, `Lord, who hath believed our report? and to            that be judgment and destruction. Yet he is a man


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                81



kind, tenderhearted, compassionate, not unmoved            like an oak, which  in. felling (them), a stump (re-
with great heaviness and continual sorrow of heart         mains) in them. The seed of holiness (grows out of)
that blindness in part happened to Israel.                 the stump of it" (v. 13). The judgment shall be
  How long, this blindness, dullness, and deadness?        repeated in blow after blow, so that there shall be a
Until it ruins them, their houses, cities, and whole       repetition of it throughout history, even on the
country. "And (until) Jehovah shall have removed far       remnant. Often the people were destroyed, yet there
away the (presence of) man and great (shall be) the        was always a surviving remnant. "However frequently
forsaken (sector) in the midst of the land" (v. 12).       that very remnant may appear to perish, there shall
They were to be `removed far away, not only to             still be a remnant. of the remnant left . . . the holy
Babylon, but to the ends of the earth; as at the           seed, the true church, `the remnant according to the
present time. There was an initial fulfilment of this      election of grace' (Rom.  11:5)."  - J.A. Alexander.
prophecy in the destruction of Jerusalem by                That there is ever a remnant means not, Pelagian-wise,
Nebuchadnezzar and the resultant captivity. Then the       that God picks up the `pieces after a project of His
land, desolated as it was, made up for its neglected       gets smashed to smithereens, but that it is a visible
seventh year sabbaths with a sabbath rest of seventy       evidence of God's secret counsel and decree of elec-
years. Still this prophecy, reaching to the New Tes-       tion of vessels of mercy before ordained from
tament and to the Jews of Jesus' day, has a final          destruction to eternal life. So for the elect people of
fulfilment in the destruction of Jerusalem and its         God, as concisely summarized in this promise, His
people by the Romans in 70 A.D., the effects of            blessing comes to them always out of the depths of
which are felt and evident to this day.                    the curse. The curse fells the hardy olive tree, yet out
                                                           of the stump a remnant branch shoots up. A remnant
  3. Its Comfort:  a promise. "But yet in it (there        shall return (Isa.  10:21). For from the depths of the
shall remain) a tenth, and it shall return, and (again)    Cross, the holy seed is born; and the promise is sure to
shall be for a consuming; (but) like a hardy tree, and     all the seed (Rom. 4: 16).

THE DAY OF SHADOWS



                                    Led  Prosperously
                            While  Walking  :Faithfully
                                                Rev. John A. Heys


  No thanks.                                               conditions of the day, was quite uncertain, would fall
  The duty that Abraham charged his eldest servant         for such a display and gladly seek a life of wealth and
to perform is not one that one could be glad to be         abundance. But this servant must get a believing child
called to perform. If all goes well, there might be a      of God for Isaac to marry. And she must be one who
word of thanks; but woe to.that man who sets out to        is willing to leave father and mother and all her
get a wife for someone else and then the marriage          household behind, never to see them again for God's
turns sour. Besides, Isaac had shown no interest in        sake and His covenant's sake.
having a wife, and one could get his wrath and               The servant sees this clearly and raises that ob-
displeasure for having gone and gotten one for him.        jection, "Peradventure the woman will not be willing
  The duty Abraham called his servant to perform is        to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy
doubly difficult because of the qualifications which       son again unto the land from whence thou camest?"
Abraham stipulated. To get a pretty face, to get a         He sees that she must be a woman of Abraham's
charming damsel by a display of trinkets and golden        kindred  - and not because such were physically
earrings and bracelets of gold was no harder in that       better, or for sentimental reasons, but because there
day than it is today. Then, perhaps, even more than        he would find those that would be spiritually com-
today when our standard of living is already so high, a    patible for Isaac in whom and around whom the
young woman whose future, because of the social            covenant promises centered; and revolved. He might,


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however, find one of that kindred who is nominally in          Genesis 17:26, 27, and had the covenant promises of
the church of God of that day, a woman born to                 God explained to him in connection with it - had he
covenant parents; but she might not want to come,              despised God's covenant and called all this foolish-
having no interest or not enough interest in God's             ness, he could have escaped his task. And his words,
covenant and its promises to leave her land as                 "What if she will not be willing to follow me?" would
Abraham had done. By faith Abraham had obeyed;                 have been the words of a clever, carnal mind that was
but that `she is born to covenant parents does not             already devising a way out. He could make it so hard,
mean that she is going to have that faith and that             could paint such an awful picture to the women in
strength of faith. And the man she  ,will marry is             Abraham's kindred that no one .wanted to go along
completely a stranger to her. She has not even seen            with him to be Isaac's wife. He could have warned
him. It is asking an awful lot of her. It will have to be a    them that Isaac did not have interest in a wife and
venture of faith in God and of  firm conviction that           might not take to her, would shun her, insult her, and
this is His will, and that He calls her to close the door      a bitter life of tears and frustrations lay ahead of her.
so completely on her family and leave the land so              But no, he has a keen interest himself and therefore
fully, not for a natural love that has tremendous              goes to God in prayer for success upon his way.
drawing power, for the only thing she will know                  When he says, "I being in the way the Lord led
about this future husband is that he. is a relative, but       me," in Genesis  24:27, he shows that he willingly
out of love-for God and with a sincere interest in His         walked in God's way. This way was his way because
covenant.                                                      he knew it was God's way. He was in the way and not
      And Rebekah was no plain Jane and no unattrac-           out  of it. He walked faithfully where God wanted
tive young lass who most assuredly would be passed             him to walk and was not complying with a command
by and had better seize this one opportunity of a              in which he had no interest. His walking was an act of
lifetime to be married. She was extremely beautiful            love to God, and God led him successfully so that this
and undoubtedly had the heads of many, many                    servant himself declares in verse 56, ". . . the Lord has
young men in the region turning. She did not need to           prospered my way." Get that: he says, "my way."
seek ways to obtain suitors but to avoid them. She             God's way as pointed out to him by Abraham had
would have to have, and did have, faith in God to              become his own way. He wanted it this way as well as
agree as she did. But by the same token Abraham's              Abraham and God Himself did.
servant's task is not made easier when he has to pick            This servant is also to be commended for the way
out a woman - and quite naturally he would pick out            in which he set out to perform his task. He began
an attractive woman, would choose as he would for              where we must always begin. He began with God. He
himself  - that would be spiritually compatible and            did not begin with a woman. He sought a woman to
willing to be a stranger in a strange land for God's           be a wife for Isaac, but he began in this search with
sake.                                                          God. In prayer he came before the throne of grace
      But he goes  .to `perform this thankless duty and        and asked God to lead him and to prosper his journey.
swears an oath that he will not take a wife for Isaac out      And this way is to be recommended to all our young
of the daughters in Canaan, but would go to Abra-              people who quite naturally think of marriage. It
ham's kindred and get one there. And do not say that           applies to parents and all of us in all the  situatio-ns
this servant had no choice, being a servant. Yes, as a         and matters of our earthly lives. We must not, only
servant he had to go, and placed under an oath by his          after we fail, first begin to think of God and turn to
master, he had to swear. But he did not have to take           Him for help, but, we ought to begin every project
an interest in all this, that is, Abraham could not            with the understanding and in the full knowledge that
make him love God and want to do all this for God's            we will always fail unless God is pleased to prosper
sake. We likewise can and must command our chil-               our way. He must not be an afterthought in our lives
dren to love God and walk in His fear, but we cannot           but be thought of as we begin the day, as we begin
make them do so. And this servant of Abraham                   our work, as we finish our work, and as we close our
showed that he did have an interest, that he was a             eyes in sleep after, our work.
believing child of God who  knew, God's covenant                 Now understand the situation. This servant has
promises and rejoiced in them. He, too, wanted a               never seen any of Abraham's kindred. Cameras to
God-fearing wife for Isaac. He also wanted spiritual           take and produce instant pictures were thousands of
compatibility in Isaac's wife. And all this becomes            years away. Little, simple, inexpensive box cameras
evident in the fact that he commits the whole matter           were not even in the minds of inventors yet; and
in prayer to God instead of trying to get out of the           Abraham's kindred did not and could not supply him
difficult duty he had to perform.                              with pictures of the children and grandchildren.
      Had he been an unbeliever - and let it be remem-         Consequently Abraham had no photos to show to
bered that he had been circumcised, according to               this servant. He did not even have an address - surely


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                             83


not with a zip code - to tell him to look up. We read       shoulders - and now he thanks God for that mercy.
in Genesis  22:20 ff. that news reached Abraham             We have here quite a different picture from that
about his brother's family; but that is not the same as     which characterizes the whole field of labor today.
receiving pictures so that these can be identified by       What a beautiful relationship between master and
his servant. Yes, he could ask around where Nahor           servant! But what an interest this man shows in God's
lived and be directed to his tent. But there is a better    covenant! And that he calls God "The Lord God of
way. There is one Who knows them all by name and            my master Abraham" does not mean that Jehovah is
can never be deceived by looks or change of apparel         not his own God. He means the God Who has given
or the like. To Him this servant goes in prayer and         such wonderful and rich promises to Abraham,
asks that, not the family, not the father and mother,       promises in which he also believes, promises which he
but the exact woman be pointed out to him by God            also desires to see fulfilled in the mercy of God and in
Himself.                                                    His truth.
  And let us not overlook the humility, the strong            Yes, Christ is here. He is in all the Old Testament.
love for Abraham, the deep interest in the cause  ,of       For He is everywhere in the Old Testament Scriptures
God's kingdom when he prays, "0 Lord God of my              where we find God's mercy and His grace. All the
master Abraham, I pray thee send me good speed this         blessings of the covenant come through Christ and
day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham."             His cross. That cross was there in the Old Testament
Get that last part especially: He is not praying for        under the symbols, the types, and shadows. He was
self. He does not pray to be a successful servant that      there in the highpriest, the altar, the lambs, and
may get praise  - and maybe a raise  - from his             bullocks. And do we not exactly read of a mercy seat
master. It is kindness to his master from the living        which was the covering of the ark of the covenant in
God Himself that he seeks. He is not looking merely         the innermost part of the temple? On it the highpriest
to be prosperous in his own way. He desires that            sprinkled the blood of the lamb; and because of its;
Abraham be prospered in his covenant way and desire         typical significance was able to go out to the people
that his son have a believing wife. He has interest in      and bless them in God's name and assure them that
God's covenant and wants a God-fearing wife for             with God there is pardon for their sins.
Isaac, the child of the covenant.                             But the point at the moment is that in the way of
  All this .explains the way of which he speaks when        faithfulness before God, in the way of obedience and
he says, "I being in the way the Lord led me." And          committing our way to God, we are prospered by
we may note here also - that is, in verse 27  - that        Him.
being successful in finding a damsel that meets the
qualification he sought in a wife for Isaac - he speaks       God will not lead us to true prosperity in the way
again of that mercy of God for Abraham. We read,            of sin. In His mercy He will lead his erring children
"And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of my-master          back to the way of obedience and love, and then bless
Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of           them while they are in the way that He demands of
His mercy and His truth: I being in the way, the Lord       them, the way of faith and obedience. As Solomon in
led me to the house of my master's brethren." He            his wisdom said, "Fear God and keep His com-
prayed for the mercy of God upon his master  - a            mandments, for this is the whole duty of man."
master who had placed such a difficult task upon his        Indeed, "Trust and obey for there is no other way."

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE


                                     November 15, 1977
Dear Timothy,                                               is the attitude of a minister towards worldly posses-
  We shall have to continue, in this letter, our            sions. I am well aware of the fact that even to bring
discussion concerning the godly example which               this subject up involves some measure of courage.
ministers in the Church of Christ must be. You will         There is scarcely a subject which involves such in-
recall that last time we discussed some matters of          tensity of feeling as a minister's worldly possessions.
Christian liberty as they are connected with our            There are all kinds of questions which are raised in
calling to be a godly example. In this letter I want to     this `connection and which are topics for debate  -
range a bit farther afield in our discussion.               perhaps especially at the time the annual budget is
                                                            drawn up and the minister's salary is discussed. How
  A matter which comes to mind as being important.          much money does a minister need?. At what


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economic level ought he to be supported? Should he          Lord has some very sharp words to say through
be put on a financial level with the lowest paid people     Ezekiel the prophet about this very thing. The
in the congregation? Should he receive a salary which       passage is worthwhile and we can take the time to
places him at about the average income of the               quote it. `  ` Son of man, prophesy against the
members? May smaller congregations increase their           shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them,
requests for  synodical subsidy in order to raise the       Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds; Woe be,
level of the salary of their ministers? Should we have      to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves!
fixed salaries in the denomination? All these ques-         should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the
tions and many more are constantly being discussed.         fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them
      It is not my purpose to enter into these dis-         that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. The diseased
cussions. If I should write some day to your congre-        ye have not strengthened, neither have ye healed that
gation, it would perhaps be fitting to enter into some      which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which
of these questions. But I am writing to you. And I am       was broken, neither-have ye brought again that which
interested in your attitude towards these matters.          was driven away, neither have ye sought that which
                                                            was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye
      The pressing nature of this question is repeatedly    ruled them. And they were scattered, because there
brought to mind when I hear discussions among               was no shepherd: and they became meat to all the
ministers on these matters. I sometimes get the             beasts of the field, when they were scattered. My
`impression that ministers are more concerned about         sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon
these things than about their calling as shepherds in       every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all
the Church of Christ. I recall a few years ago being in     the face of the earth, and none did search or seek
the company of several pastors of a different denom-        after them. Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of
ination from the one you serve. Among themselves            the Lord; As I live, saith the Lord God, surely
they were discussing a colleague who had apparently         because my flock became a prey, and my flock
received a call from the richest and most prestigious       became meat to every beast of the field, because
congregation in the  classis. There was not one             there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds
smidgen of doubt in the minds of any of them that he        search for my flock, but the shepherds fed them-
would take this call - even though he had been in his       selves, and fed not my flock; Therefore, 0 ye shep-
congregation a very short period of time., Nor did          herds, hear the word of the Lord; Thus saith the Lord
they blame him for taking the call  - they frankly          God; Behold I am against the shepherds; and I will
admitted that anyone of them would have done the            require my flock at their hand, and cause them to
same. But they spoke of the fact in terms of this           cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shep
man's having reached the top of the ecclesiastical          herds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my
ladder as far as the pastoral ministry was concerned.       flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat
And their envy was ill-concealed. No more financial         for them. . . ." Ez. 34:2-10
worries for him! He would have a home that bordered
on a palace! And because he was young,  .that con-          This is a powerful passage, Timothy, and you can
gregation was now tied up for the foreseeable future.       sense how fitting it is for much of our time.
 _. I recall also a minister from yet another denomina-       We live in a materialistic age. The spirit of material-
tion who spoke happily about the wonderful call he          ism infects us all. It is a devastating spiritual illness,
had received. When pressed a bit about why this call        and goes far to destroy the life of the Church of
was so wonderful, he responded by pointing out that         Christ. How wholly wrong it is, therefore, for a minister
the work was minimal and the salary was large; the          of the gospel to seek the things which are below!
parsonage was new and the car allowance generous.           How entirely out of keeping it is when he is con-
This was about all he could say about why the call          stantly complaining about his salary, when he lives
was wonderful.                       if                     beyond his means, when he must seek help from the
  There are, no doubt ministers also who, while             Church to bail him out of debt and financial dif-
deeply troubled over apostasy in their denominations,       ficulty because he is a free-wheeling spender who
would never think of leaving simply because they            covets the good things of this world.
would have to abandon large congregations, ample              I  know' that the objections can be made that a
pensions, secure futures, and generous salaries for the     congregation is obligated before God to support its
uncertain financial status of an unknown future. In         minister. I know that it is a shame on the Church of
other words, they do, not hesitate to compromise            Christ when a minister can barely subsist in these
their convictions concerning the truth of Scripture         times of affluence. I know that there are tightfisted.
for "houses and lands."                                     congregations who begrudge their pastor enough to
  I  thmk this attitude is far more widespread than         support his family, send his children to a Christian
you or I realize. It is, however, a wicked attitude. The    school, and have something left over to give to the


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  85


 poor. I am not interested at the moment in all these       that the Scriptures teach that the people of God who
 things. I am interested in a minister, and particularly    are faithful to Christ will not be able to buy or sell
 in you, Timothy, being a good example to the flock.        without the mark of the beast which they refuse to
 Your good example must be a constant protest               carry. The Scriptures present to us a picture of the
 against the spirit of materialism which saps the           world enjoying an affluence and a prosperity such as
 spiritual energy of the members of the Church. It is       the world has never seen, while the Church of Christ
not your concern or mine what the congregation does         is an outcast among men and the people of God
 and what its attitude may be towards the support of        forced to scavenge in garbage pails to find a bone for
the pastor. It is your concern and mine that we be          their starving children to gnaw on. We know these
good examples.                                              days are coming, and we know Christ cannot return
   I wonder sometimes where the spirit of sacrifice is      until they do.
that has characterized so many shepherds in the past           I sometimes wonder whether  we will be able to
and still characterizes some today. I am thinking           give up everything we have when this is the price that
particularly of missionary work - to refer to but one       must be paid for faithfulness to our Lord and King.
example. There have been in the past, and are yet           Perhaps we do not even like to think very much
today, missionaries who left families and friends, who      about it; and without too much thought, we convince
set out to unknown lands, entered hot and humid             ourselves that we will be able to give all these things
jungles, faced the fury of headhunters and aborigines,      up when the occasion demands it. But material things
lived in shacks and ate from the land food which at         are like a powerful narcotic. The more"they get their
home was considered unfit for dogs - all for the sake       grip on our lives, the more difficult it becomes to
of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that sometimes        break free of them. Will we be able to give up our
the objection is raised that these men often left even      homes and salaries, our books and treasures, our
their children behind, and that in doing so they did        vacations and pleasures to flee to the mountains when
not fulfill their covenant responsibilities before God.     that is the only way to be faithful? I am frightened
There is some room for argument here I suppose.             sometimes  - frightened for the Church, frightened
Nevertheless, they brought the gospel to heathen            for myself.
lands at great personal cost to themselves. Far less           The ministers of the gospel shall surely be the.first
sacrifice is required of us; yet we are so hesitant to      to experience the dread heat of persecution. They
leave our comfortable homes, our loaded tables, our         shall have to be the first to go to jail, to face the
warm, cozy family rooms, our large congregations to         firing squads, to endure the exquisite tortures which
serve the Lord in places where only a bit of sacrifice      ungodly men invent to try to overcome the grace of
is required of us.                                          God. And this is as, it should be. This is part of a
   Luxuries of life, vacations, recreations, eating out,    minister's calling in the place he occupies in the
costly clothes (all of  .which  can never be wrong in       Church. But can we? Will we? How can we know
themselves) are so much more important to us than           when so little is required now, and when we are so
the welfare of the Church of Christ. It becomes             reluctant to let slip from our grasp the small bit we
increasingly difficult to preach on texts which call the    possess?
people of God to have their treasures in heaven and            God's grace will suffice. I have no doubt about that
not upon earth.                                             at all. Let God's grace suffice now, too, as we point the
   It all seems to me to be somewhat frightening. We        way for God's people in a spirit of self-sacrifice and
know and confess that before our Lord returns again         godliness with respect to this world's goods.
upon the clouds of heaven there will be times of                                       Fraternally in Christ,
severe persecution for the Church of Christ. We know                                   H. Hank0

THESTRENGTHOFYOUTH


                            Who  Wants  to  be  Wise?
                                              Rev. Ron Van Overloop

  Are you wise?                                               If you are wise, does that mean you are smart or
  Do you believe yourself to be wise?                       intelligent? Is to be smart the same as to be wise?


86                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



      Do you know someone*who  is wise?                      was driving home from his final exam one of the tires
      I am sure that you know someone who thinks or          on his car went flat. Surveying the object of his
acts as if he or she is wise. It seems as if there is one    trouble the man KNEW he had a flat tire. He KNEW
of them in every crowd. We call them "smart'alecks"          he had to replace that flat tire with a spare tire he had
or "wiseacres." It is not a compliment to be called          in the trunk of his car. But. this man, who had just
that. Although everyone of us would like it if we            passed his final exams in automotive school with
were said to be wise, no one wants to be called a            flying colors, did not know HOW to change his flat
wiseacre.                                                    tire. He had knowledge, but he had no wisdom. The
                                                             point of this example is that it takes more than just
      Can we make ourselves wise? Can we get wisdom?         knowledge to be wise.
Or can we learn to be wise?                                     A man is wise when he knows how to use all he
      Or is it such that one is either wise by birth or      knows. He knows how to apply what he knows to
there is no hope for him ever to be wise? Is it a            practical life.
matter of our genes which determines whether we are
wise or not? If it is, then we cannot do anything               According to the Word of God, a man is wise when
about it. Then you and I are as wise as we are ever          he knows how to do something to the glory of God.
going to be.                                                 The highest end for man is the glory of God. Because
                          *  18                              the glorification of God is the highest end for God, it
      All of these questions are important to consider.      has to be the highest end or goal for man.
They are important to the young. They are also                  A wise man practices his faith. He talks it and
important to those who are old.                              knows it, but he also lives it. All of us know people
      Maybe we can answer these questions, or at least       who can talk a lot about religion and about the Bible
begin to answer these questions, by finding out the          and about spiritual things. But if these people do only
answer to another question. That is an obvious               that, if they only talk about it (or complain about
question: "What is wisdom? What does it mean to be           it!), we do not think much of them. Oh, we may
wise?"                                                       think that they are quite knowledgeable. And they
                                                             might even leave an impression upon us  - at first.
      First of all, wisdom implies a knowledge. One who      But soon we begin to realize that that is all it is:
is wise must know some things;' he. must have some           knowledge. They talk a lot about what they know,
sort of knowledge. He must have some facts in his            but they do not live it.
head.                                                           Wisdom is the ability to use all things to the glory
      But that can not be all there is. We seem to sense     of God. Wisdom tells us how to study. Wisdom tells
that there is more to it than just knowledge. I believe
we sense that because we know someone who is wise.           us how to play. Wisdom tells us how to date. It tells
                                                             us how to marry and give in marriage. It tells us how
Generally, he is an older man. And usually he has not        to eat and drink and be merry, all to the glory of
had much  of. an education. This would make us
conclude that, to some extent, experience is as an           God. Wisdom also tells us how to weep.
important element of wisdom as knowledge.                       Wisdom tells us how to live.
                                                                                          **1;8
      Now then, just what is wisdom?                            Can a young person be wise?
      A simple definition of wisdom might be: to know           Earlier we suggested that each one of us knows a
what is the best way to gain the highest end or goal.        wise man. At that time we said that it was probably
      A wise man puts into practice the knowledge he         an older person whom we would call wise. Does that
has.                                                         mean that one has to be old to be wise? Is there any
                                                             hope for a young person?
      God is wise. I Tim. 1: 17 and Rom. 16:27. He uses                                  -`*  Q  *
that which He controls for the highest end. The                  The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom
highest end for God is the glorification of His own           Proverbs 9: 10 and Psalm 111: 10.
name. To say that God is wise means that we believe
God knows how to plan and control all things in such            A young person can be wise. He is wise when he
a way that everything and everyone glorifies God.            fears the Lord.
  What makes a man wise?                                        Job asks a very interesting question in Job 28: 12.
                                                             Get a Bible and look up that text. Preferably, get
      I can remember a minister using an example as he       your own Bible and underline the second, third,
was explaining what wisdom is. If I. can remember,           fourth, fifth, and sixth words in that verse. (Do not
correctly, the example went something like this. He          keep reading this article in the hope that you will find
spoke of a man who had gone to an automotive                 that verse quoted here. You will not find it, so go get
school. and had aced all the courses. Then as this man,      .your Bible.)


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                87


   In the rest of that chapter Job answers that           this God before Whom we stand. The fear of God
question. Read .it just before you go to bed tonight.     brings us upon our knees and we pray, "Teach me
For now, go to the last verse of that chapter, verse      Thy way, 0 Lord; show me Thy paths."
28, and find the answer. Is not that a beautiful             Standing before such a great God we do not even
answer? (I hope you did not close your Bible already,
because if you did, you will have to find Job 28          think about what we want to do. That is unim-
again, because verse 28 will not be quoted in this        portant. Right now God is everything. And therefore
article either.) Why not underline the key words of       we want to do what He would have us do.
that verse, too.                                             We worship and revere God, consecrate the whole
  Who wants to be wise? Do you, young Christian?          of our life to Him. This must be what Solomon meant
                                                          in Ecclesiastes 12: 13. Look up this verse, too. In your
   You can be wise. It is possible for you to be wise.    Bible underline all the words between and including
   Only fear the Lord.                                    the fourth and eleventh words of that verse.
                          *  *  *                            Because we want to do what God wants us to do,
  `But, I hear you ask, how do we fear the Lord?          we are again going to go to the Bible. Whether for our
What does it mean to fear God or to be God-fearing?       belief or for our conduct, the fear of God brings us to
  What "God-fearing" means is hard to explain and         the Word of God.
hard to understand. But do not stop reading just             In review, the fear of God means: 1. to stand
because it gets a little hard to understand. I may not    consciously before God, 2. to know God, 3. to be
stop writing, so you ought not to stop reading. We        humbled, 4. and to want to do what He commands.
just have to concentrate.                                                         *  * *
  First, to fear God means that we stand before God.         The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. This
Can you imagine what that is like? God is in our mind     means that the fear of Jehovah is the source, origin,
and we are thinking about Him. This God we know is        and cause of wisdom. The fear of the ,Lord is the basis
not a buddy, but the great, almighty God. He is the       upon which wisdom stands. It is the fountain out of
infinite, eternal, incomprehensible, perfectly wise,      which wisdom flows.
just, good, and holy One. And before Him we are              He who fears God is truly wise. The fear of God
standing.                                                 begins wisdom. And it continuously proposes wisdom
  Secondly, this fear of God is not that kind of fear     as we move from moment to moment and from day
which means to be afraid. Rather it is that fear which    to day.
is great respect. It cannot mean that we are afraid         There are many people who think they are wise.
because someone who is God-fearing is drawn TO            They may be worldly wise, i.e., wise according to the
God.                                                      world. We may think of men who were geniuses in
  Therefore, to fear God means that we humbly             math or philosophy or in science. But Solomon
want Him and seek Him. Because we fear Him we             makes all the wisdom of the world, which is without
want to know Him better and better. And so it means       the fear of the Lord, to be vanity, an empty shadow.
that we study the Word of God. When we find                 All who are ignorant of the purpose for which they
ourselves standing before someone whom we know to         live are fools and madmen. There is no worse blind-
be very important, we are going to want to hear           ness than when God is forgotten and despised.
everything he says. One who is God-fearing listens to       With the fear of the Lord in your heart, you will be
God speak to Him in the preaching and spends times        wise. Motivated by the fear of God you will humbly
reading the Speech of God.                                study readily. Motivated by the fear of God you will
  The third thing involved in the fear of God is about    humbly work hard. Motivated by the fear of God you
our attitude towards this great God. We see ourselves     will humbly do all things to the glory of God.
as being very small and insignificant. One who fears        Then you will be wise.
God is always humble. He stands in awe and wonder
as he gazes up at God.                                      Who wants to be wise?
  As you stand before the God revealed in Scripture,
you are struck with awe and reverence. The awe is
because you are so conscious of His nearness. When              and follow it.
we contemplate God, then we, like the  publican in
the corner of the temple, smite our breasts in re-
pentance.
  Finally, the fear of God implies a desire to please      STANDARD  BEA


88                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER


THE  VOICE  OF  OUR  FATHERS




                                   The  Impossibility  of  an
                                            Unfruitful  Faith
                                                     Profi Robert D. Decker

            "We believe that this true faith being wrought in man by the hearing of the Word of God, and the operation
            of the Holy Ghost, doth regenerate and make him a new man, causing him to live a new life, and freeing
            him from the bondage of sm. Therefore it is so far from being true, that this justifying faith makes men
            remiss in a ,pious and holy life, that on the contrary without it they would never do anything out ofiove to
            God, but only out of self-love or fear of damnation. Therefore it is impossible that this holy faith can be
            unfruitful in man: for we do not speak of a vain faith, but of such a faith which is called in Scripture, a
            faith that worketh by love, which excites man to the practice of those works, which God has commanded in
            his Word. Which works, as they proceed from the good root of faith, are good and acceptable in the sight of
            God, forasmuch as they are all sanctified by his grace: howbeit they are of no account towards our
            justification. For it is by faith in Christ that we are justified, even before we do good works; otherwise they
            could not be good works, anymore than the fruit of a tree can be good, before the tree itself is good.
            Therefore we do good works, but not to merit by them, (for what can we merit?) nay, we are beholden to
            God for the good works we do, and not he to us, since it is he that worketh in us both to will and to do of
            his good pleasure. Let us therefore attend to what is written: when ye shall have done all those things which
            are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable servants; we have done that which was our duty to do. In the
            meantime, we do not deny that God rewards our good works, but it is through his grace that he crowns his
            gifts. Moreover, though we do good works, we do not found our salvation upon them; for we do no work
            but what is polluted by our flesh, and also punishable; and although we could perform  such works, still the
            remembrance of one sin is sufficient to make God reject them. Thus then we would always be in doubt,
            tossed to and fro without any certainty, and our poor consciences continually vexed, if they relied not on
            the merits of the suffering and death of our Savior."
                                                                                    Article XXV, The Belgic Confession

      In the preceding two articles our  Confession                      They speak, therefore, at length about good works
carefully and unequivocally  articulates the truth of                 as the fruit of sanctification. And, in order to make
Scripture, that the elect are justified by faith alone                that point clear, they discuss the relationship between
and not by works. Whenever that precious truth is                     justification and sanctification. It cannot escape our
maintained thkre is the charge that this doctrine                     attention, however, that sanctification in this article
makes "men careless and profane." The Heidelberg                      is really identified with regeneration. This is evident
Catechism faces this same charge: "But doth not this                  from the very opening sentence: "We believe that this
doctrine make men careless and profane?" "By no                       true faith being wrought in man by the hearing of the
means: for it is impossible that those, who are                       Word of God, and the operation of the Holy Ghost,
implanted into Christ by a true and living faith,                     doth  regenerate  and make him a new man, causing
should not bring forth fruits of thankfulness."                       him to live a new life, and freeing him from the
(Lord's Day XXIV, q. and a. 64) Even the Apostle                      bondage of sin." It would appear that the article
Paul, after he had developed the truth of justification               teaches mediate regeneration, that is, the view that
by faith without works, found it necessary to refute                  regeneration is accomplished by means of the preach-
this  objection. "What shall we say then? Shall we                    ing of the Word. Immediate regeneration, the view to
continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid.                    which we hold, teaches that regeneration takes place
How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer                    beneath the consciousness and is effected by the Holy
therein?" (Romans 6: 1, 2) Against this same, age old                 Spirit without means. The fact is that the article
charge, "that this justifying faith makes men remiss                  makes no distinction between regeneration and sanc-
in a pious and holy life . . .", the fathers wrote this               tification and simply speaks of them as synonymous.
article.                                                              This is not an error on the part of our  Confession.


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     89


The Confession simply does not enter into the whole            covenant, believers and their seed, this takes place in
question of mediate or immediate regeneration. The             earliest infancy, perhaps even at the moment of
Confession proceeds from the principle: that regenera-          conception. That regenerated child of God from that
tion can be and actually is spoken of in Scripture in a        moment on is receptive to the Word of God and he
broad sense as sanctification.                                 begins the spiritual growth process that continues
                                                               until he is delivered up into glory. This is regeneration
   All of this is not to say that regeneration cannot be
regarded in another sense. It can be and is in Scrip-          in the narrower sense. (Cf. also I Peter  1:23-25; I
ture. When speaking of regeneration as taught in               John 3:9)
Scripture we must distinguish between regeneration                Regeneration in the broader sense is a work of God
in a narrower and a broader sense. In the narrower             in the elect which implies not only the implanting of
sense, regeneration is the implanting of the principle         the new life of Jesus Christ, but also the entire work
of the life of Christ, the new life, in the sinner who is      of salvation as it is consciously applied to the be-
dead in trespasses and sins. It can be compared to the         liever. It includes, therefore, conversion and faith and
planting of a kernel of seed in the earth, or to the           even sanctification. This work is accomplished by
conception of a child in the womb of its mother. This          means of the preaching of the Word by which the
is the initial work of the Holy Spriit in the applica-         Gospel, "the living and abiding Word" (I Peter 1:23),
tion of the blessings of salvation in the heart of the         "the Word of truth!' (James 1:  IS), is addressed by
elect. It takes place without means and beneath the            the Spirit to the principle of regeneration, calling that
consciousness. Regeneration in the broader sense               new life into consciousness. Thus the principle of
includes man's conversion and even sanctification. It          regeneration renews and influences the mind and the
may be compared to the sprouting forth of the seed             will in such a way that the elect is capable of hearing
from the earth, or the birth of a child by which he            the Gospel and desiring it, believing it and clinging to
comes to conscious life.                                       it. This is a life-long process and perfection is not
                                                               reached until the saint is taken into glory. In this
' Concerning regeneration in the narrower sense we             broader sense the Confession in this article speaks of,
may note that it is the initial work of the Holy Spirit        regeneration.
in the heart of the elect. Jesus said to Nicodemus:               Thus the article continues by discussing the rela-
"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born         tionship between justification and sanctification.
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John                There is a difference between the two. Justification
3:3) That term, "born again," means to be born again           has to do with man's state, and it thus frees him from
and from above. It refers to a radically new life.             the guilt of sin. Justification is a judicial act of God, a
Moreover, it is a term used in Scripture to refer to the       formal declaration by which man is declared righ-
moment of conception, the very beginning of life, the          teous. Sanctification, on the other hand, has to do
begetting of a child. This is a work of the Holy Spirit        with man's condition and frees him from the pollu-
which takes place in a moment of time and is
performed in the very depths of man's being, in his            tion of sin. We are washed and cleansed from in-
                                                               iquity. More and more the old man of sin is destroyed
heart which. is the center of all his, spiritual and           and the new man in Christ is quickened and we
ethical life. It takes place while the sinner, although
elect, is still dead in trespasses and sins. It takes place    become holy.
beneath the level of his consciousness so that a man is          While there is that difference between justification
not aware at that moment of the work being per-                and sanctification, the two are related. Justification
formed. Thus Jesus said to Nicodemus: "The wind                necessarily implies sanctification, for one's state and
bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound           condition must correspond. If one be justified, he will
thereof, but  canst not tell whence it  cometh, and            also be sanctified and even glorified. (Cf. Romans
whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the          8:29, 30) Justification is the ground for sanctifica-
Spirit." (John  3:8) It is the impianting of the new,          tion. Sanctification can never be the basis for jus-
resurrection life of Christ by which the sinner is             tification, for this would lead to the error that we are
raised from his spiritual grave and placed in everlast-        justified by our works.
ing communion with the body of Christ. Regenera-                 The importance of understanding this relationship
tion is a work which can never be lost; a principle of         is evident. This means that it is utterly impossible
life which abides in the heart all through life, through       that there be a careless and profane Christian. It is
death itself, and on into eternity. Finally, it is             impossible that there be faith without the fruit of
absolutely indispensable. Without regeneration in his          faith. If one be justified, he will also lead a sanctified
heart man has no receptivity for the Gospel, he can            life. And the faith by which he is justified is a lively
only reject the Word. So true is this in fact that Jesus       faith which cannot possibly produce a profane per-
said that without regeneration man cannot even see             son. Where faith is there will be the works of faith.
the Kingdom of God! (John 3: 3) In the line of the             (Cf. James 2) Yet, at the same time, our good works


 90                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER,


can never be the basis  fait our justification. And if              but continue to sin, while only one sin would be
they cannot contribute  to our justification, they                  sufficient to send us to hell forever.  Yet our works.
cannot in any way contrib&e+o our salvation. With-                  are rewarded both in this life and in the life to come.'
out justification we cannot and "would never `do                    But that reward is of grace for: "It is through His
anything out of love to God, but only out of self-love              grace that he crowns his gifts."
or fear of damnation." Our good works, even though                    Finally there is a word about the assurance of our
approved by God, are of no account for our justifica-               salvation. This assurance can `never rest upon the basis
tion, for we are justified before we do good works,                 of our good works: "For we do no work but what is
and God's approval upon our works is simply the                     polluted by our flesh, and also punishable; and
crown He places upon His own work in us. This is                    although  .we could perform such works, still the
even, the article says, as a tree that cannot produce               remembrance of one sin is sufficient to make God
good fiuit unless the tree itself 3s first good. And the            reject them." Tf, however, tie do attempt to base our
fact that. we are first good before we can produce                  assurance on our good works, then: "we would always
good works, is due to the fact that whom He justifies               be in doubt, tossed to and fro without any certainty,
God also sanctifies. Besides this, our works can never              and our poor consciences continually vexed." Our
justify because even when we do good works, we                      assurance of salvation can only come by relying
remain unprofitable servants who have earned noth-                  completely upon the merits of the suffering and
ing, but only done our duty. And, we are not perfect,               death of our Savior. BJJ grace are ye saved!

IN  HIS  FEAR




                            The  .School's  Responsibility
                                      to  the  Slow-Learner
                                                         Rev. M. Joostens

Author's note: The following article ,is the essence of a speech    time applicable to all of us: It is limited because the
that I delivered to Hope School's P.T.A. meeting on October;        number of children that are "slow-learners" is rela-
7, 1977. I include this article under this rubric because I be-     tively small. Yet this small number is the concern of
lieve it is pertinent to parents who desire to educate the seed-
of the covenant "In His Fear."                                      all of us in that we attempt to maintain a parental
       Sometimes one feels somewhat like a fish out of              school that is based upon the idea of the covenant.
water, as if he is overstepping his bounds. I feel this             These children are part of the body of Christ in the
way about the topic before us this evening. And                     church where they reside. And when a little member
especially after a little more researching of this topic            of the body suffers we all suffer!
the feeling increased. I read many scholarly works                    I am going to state quite frankly what I have in
that deal with the "slow-learner." These works were                 store for you this evening. I intend to put across the
written by concerned and knowledgeable people in                    fact that we have a problem. And that this problem
the field. Yet I found no consensus as to a solution to             must be faced. It is only through awareness of the
the dilemma of the "slow-learner." I will readily                   problem and a collective effort toward a solution that
admit to you that I am not a professional educator.                 the problem will be solved. I hope that this little
But I am a pastor and a parent. And I think that this               verbal orientation this evening stimulates some activ-
somewhat qualifies me to  mtike a few observations                  ity in this direction. It is my desire to keep things
,and points this evening. For, first of all, as a parent I          very simple this evening. I am going to cut out all the
have the concern of maintaining the covenant educa-                 fancy "lingo" in order not to isolate the parents.
i tion of my own children. And, secondly, as a pastor I             Thosg of you who are interested in the scholarly
see the heartbreak and frustration of parents who                   studies that I consulted can do so at your leisure. I
must deal with children who cannot "keep up." I am                  want to be Scriptural and practical!
concerned for the little sheep in the church of Christ.               Let us first of all come to grips with the problem.
       Our topic tonight is rather limited, yet at the same         It is legitimate to ask the question: what precisely are


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 91


we talking about? We can narrow the boundaries              use his God-given talents to the fullest, but the
somewhat. There are many terms that are thrown              number of talents may differ.
around in this aspect of education dealing with the           But, in the second place, I am really more con-
slow-learner. They speak of mental retardation, men-        cerned about the psychological and emotional dif-
tal deficiencies, mental handicaps, and many more. I        ficulties of the "slow-learner." In this regard I want
choose not to use any of these terms, for two reasons.      to state first of all, that these difficulties are not
First of all, many of these terms are not applicable in     innate. Lest I be misunderstood, Iet me clarify. I am
our situation because more extreme cases of mental          not saying that these children are not corrupt' and
deficiency require more attention than this school          consequently not responsible for their sin. But I am
system can give. Secondly, these various terms carry        saying that these psychological and emotional dif-
with them a certain stigma or bad connotation. This I       ficulties are not inherent problems of the  "slow-
desire to get away from. Therefore I want to confine        learner," but rather side or after effects. All too often
myself to the "slow-learner" who is sometimes called        we make the mistake of treating this problem too
the "under-achiever." A definition of such a child is       superficially. We say that these children are non-
very simple. These are children who are characterized       chalant, disinterested, cocky, always in trouble, and
by, as we say, the inability to "keep up." Children         problems in general. And we, not appreciating the
who acquire the ability to perform certain skills at a      difficulty of the "slow-learner," think of them as
somewhat slower than normal rate. They are children         headaches, truants, and finally dropouts. These
who achieve at a slower rate and will never be              characteristics may be traced to their intellectual
geniuses. Consulting various works, as well as our own      inability to achieve. Psychologists tell us that these
teachers, .I find the percentage of these children to be    children, as well as those handicapped in other ways,
about 15, or perhaps two or three in a class of 20.         have the same needs as normal children. They need
This small group of children has an acute problem!          the same love and affection. Anyone who has ever
And though most of us may be unaware of this                dealt with grossly retarded children will know that
problem, particular parents who struggle with such          they cling to you as you are trying to make an exit.
children know the heartbreak of the situation. This         More to the point in our discussion, "slow-learners"
problem is not going to go away. And if we do not           have the same need for achievements and personal
find a proper solution to this problem the wrong            satisfaction. No one can operate in a negative atmo-
solutions will be employed.                                 sphere. We know better than to try this in our homes.
                                                            We destroy our children if we always say no, not
  We must fully appreciate the dimension of the             good enough, etc. The spiritual equivalent of this
problem of the "slow-learner." There are two aspects        would be for a pastor to remain in the first part of the
to this problem. First of all, there is the obvious         Heidelberg Catechism and never proceed into Re-
scholastic difficulty. God gives these children talents     demption and Gratitude. But the difficulty is that
to learn, but to learn more slowly. They are not able       these "slow-learners" have trouble achieving toward
to keep pace with what we term the normal rate of           the norm we the community `sets for them and to
progress. We must recognize that this problem is a          satisfy the goals that are held before them. Even if
progressive one. By this I mean that the gap between        these children had the ability to achieve to that point,
the "slow-learner" and the normal achiever increases        they are unable to do it in the time frame that we
as the chronological age' of the children increases. Or     provide. For example, a child with an I.Q. of 75
let me. put it this way: the child  that'needs to be        develops at three-quarters the rate of the normal
pushed through the first grade needs this pushing           child. We must set for our children attainable goals
more and more as he progresses through the school           and we must give them time to reach these goals.
system. At last you cannot push hard enough because
this gap is too wide. Such children are often flunked         If we do not take these variables into account, then
periodically. This does not help the child except,          education for these children becomes a series of
perhaps, in that things are run past him twice. We          successive failures and frustrations. This must lead to
must also understand, as far as the scholastic problem      emotional difficulties caused by outward and inward
is concerned, that these "slow-learners" never come         factors. Externally these children become ostracized
near the peak of norm. I'd like to emphasize this. All      from their peers. They are labled the so-called "dum-
our children are not going to be Einsteins or Leonar-       mies" of the class. They are the last ones to be chosen
do Da Vincis. We have to recognize this as parents          for a spell down and the first ones to sit down again.
and teachers else the consequences are going to be          They receive an invisible mark of inferiority. And
disastrous. What I am really saying is that the goals       children can be so cruel to each other! This inability
that are established for the "slow-learner" must be         to achieve the norm inevitably leads to a personal
lower. This does not mean that we must be satisfied         feeling of being unwanted, of seeing oneself as a
with less qualitatively but quantitatively. Each must       dismal failure. Oftentimes these children will strive


92                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



for recognition in other ways. They feel the need to          often separated from our covenant schools and Chris-
prove themselves and become the "dare devils" and             tian peers. They find themselves largely outside the
"cut-ups" of the class. They then become discipline           distinctive sphere of the covenant and thishas its toll!
problems and are sometimes written off as irreversible        This bothers me.
cases. And more serious than this, these children are                             (to be continued)

TAKING  HEED  TO  THE  DOCTRINE*


                A  Reformed  Look  at  Pentecostaiism
                                                  Rev. David Engelsma

      Pentecostalism is proud. It is arrogant in its atti-    Lutherans, Baptists,' Presbyterians, Reformed, and
tude towards the Church of the past. Until about              what not more. Those who  practise idolatry in the
1900, there was no such thing as the Pent. baptism            mass, as well as those whose confession is that that
with the Spirit within the Church. Athanasius and             practice is accursed; those who depend for righteous-
Augustine did not have it; Luther and Calvin did not          ness upon their own merits, as well as those whose
have it; the Reformed saints of the Netherlands who           confession is that we are to trust only in the alien
died by the scores of thousands under the Roman               righteousness of Christ; those who boast of salvation
Catholic and Spanish persecution never had it. Says           by their own free will, as well as those whose
Pent. : "Up till now the Church has been a very poor          confession is that the free-will "gospel" is the error of
and lifeless Church; the full gospel, the full salvation,     Pelagius out of hell are made one by Pent. Pent.
and the full Christian life start with us."                   leaders herald their religion as a means of church
      Put all of Pent. and neo-Pent.' on a pile, and the      union.
whole heap is not worthy to untie the shoelace of one           The ecumenical nature of Pent. was evident at "the
Luther, or of one Calvin, or of one Reformed saint            1977 Conference on Charismatic Renewal in the
who believed the gospel of grace, feared the Lord and         Christian Churches" held this summer in Kansas City.
kept His commandments, brought up his family in               The conference was co-sponsored by Baptists, Pente-
the truth, and gave his life for his faith.                   costals, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Mennonites, Mes-
      Pent. is arrogant in its attitude towards the "mere"    sianic Jews, Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, and
believer. The Pentecostal is the elite in the Church,         United Methodists. Members from many other de-
                                                              nominations participated. One of the main speakers,
the super-saint; all others are "merely" converted            the Episcopalian, Dennis Bennett, said that "he sees
Christians. Hence, Pent. is schismatic; it causes divi-       three streams of Christianity that are beginning to
sion in the body of Christ. Elders are only fooling           flow together: the Catholic stream with its emphasis
themselves when they tolerate Pent. within the con-           on history and the continuity of the faith, the
gregation, but warn it to "keep the peace."                   evangelical stream with its emphasis on loyalty to
  The explanation of this pride is that Pent. is man's        Scripture and the importance of personal commit-
religion. It centers on man: how does man feel? how           ment to Christ, and the Pentecostal stream with its
can man have power to do splendid things on the               emphasis on the immediate experience of God by the
earth? It is not God-centered. Hence, the neglect of          power of the Holy Spirit."
God's Word; of God's Christ; of God's way of                    The keynote speaker, the Roman Catholic, Kevin
salvation, namely, faith. That Pent. is a man-centered        Ranaghan, "asserted that divisions among the various
religion is evident in its Arminian, free-willist theol-      Christian churches have been a `serious scandal' in the
ogy. The roots of Pent. are not in Calvin, Dordt, and         world. `For the world to believe depends on our
Westminster, but in Wesley, Finney, and revivalism.           becoming one,' he said. It is the will of God, he
But this is another story.                                    emphasized, `that we be one.' " He expressed his
  Pent. is ecumenical. It is obviously, admittedly,           belief that there is a "real possibility of moving
and aggressively ecumenical. It operates in all               together toward some lasting form of Christian
churches,  ,with total disregard for doctrinal differ-        unity." (cf. Christiaizity Today, August 12, 1977, pp.
ences. It unites Roman Catholics, Episcopalians,              36,37)


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    93


  Because of its fundamental errors regarding the               it. not have something positive to contribute to
Word, Christ, and faith; because of its pride; because          Reformed believers? Pent. has nothing whatever to
of its false ecumenicity - an ecumenicity apart from            contribute to us. We can learn nothing from this
the truth; because of its heretical soteriology  - the          movement. I am troubled to find Pent. literature in
doctrine of Holy Spirit baptism; and because of its             the homes of Reformed people for use as devotional
fraudulent miracles, Pent. must be rejected, and it             reading:  The Full Gospel Businessman's Voice;  the
must be rejected by Christian discipline. Here, many            David Wilkerson writings; the Watchman Nee books;
are weak. They know the errors of Pent; they see it as          and the like. Even though the material may not be
radically different from the Reformed faith. But they           Pent., the devotional reading  - and listening!  - of
speak of their "Pent. friends" and tolerate Pent. in            some Reformed believers is to be faulted. The fare
the life-stream of their church.                                from which they regularly feed to satisfy the soul's
  The Pent. must be disciplined. He must be disci-              craving for exposition of the  Christian life, experi-
plined for his own good, that God may thus give him             ence, and practice is the best selling (paperback)
repentance unto the acknowledging of the truth. He              literature of present day Arminian fundamentalism.
must be disciplined for the church's good. The other            At best, it is devoid of anything Reformed; at worst,
members must learn to fear. For the Pent. means to              it undermines everything that Reformed believers
stay within the church, so that he may gain adherents           hold dear, inculcating a superficial, false view of the
to his religion. "A man that is an heretic after the            Christian life and experience. Where, for example, in
first and second admonition reject; knowing that he             the frothy works on the higher, richer, fuller, deeper
that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being con-              Christian life, with their flashy covers, that abound in
demned of himself' (Titus 3 : 10, 11 j.                         the average Christian bookstore do you find anything
                                                                of the "out of the  denths have I cried unto thee. 0
      The Reformed View of the Christian Life                   Lord" of Psalm 130? Much less is this agony over the
  But can we not learn something from Pent.? Does               guilt of sin central to their vaunted higher, richer,




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I
     94                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER


     fuller, deeper Christian life. Theirs is a higher, richer,        ation as Herman Hoeksema's forthcoming  When  I
     fuller deeper Christian life, therefore, whose  heart-           Suwey (sermons on the passion of Christ) and
     beat is not the forgiveness of sins in the redemption             Herman Hanko's Mysteries of the Kingdom (a study
     of the cross of Christ. Nor does it consist of the fear of        of the parables), as well as those sections of Herman
     Jehovah, this gracious Judge. A plague on these                  Hoeksema's commentary on the Heidelberg  Cate-
     books, and a plague on their higher, richer, fuller,              chism that treat the ten commandments and the
     deeper Christian life!                              I             Lord's Prayer.
           It may be that part of the blame for this bad                     Perhaps, we are not producing material on the
     reading lies with us preachers, elders, parents, and              distinctively Reformed (Biblical) life, practice, and
     schoolteachers. Perhaps, we do not point the Re-                 experience, as we should.  The Standard Bearer  could
     formed saints to the books that will afford good,                do more in the way of a positive development of
     solid, devotional reading: many of the writings, espe-           these aspects of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus.
     cially the commentaries and sermons, of Luther and
     Calvin; many fine books by the old Presbyterians                        It goes without saying that the main course in the
     and Puritans published by The Banner of Truth Trust,             Reformed diet must be Scripture itself, especially the
     e.g., The Valley of Vision (A Collection of Puritan              Psalms, the Proverbs, and the "practical" parts of the
     Prayers  & Devotions) and The Beatitudes by Thomas               epistles.
     Watson; certain of the devotional and practical works                   That Pent. has nothing to contribute to the Re-
     of Abraham Kuyper, e.g.,-When Thou Sit&t in Thine                formed believer does not imply that. God does not
     House, a book consisting of meditations on home life;            make use of this movement on behalf of His people.
     the published sermons of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones,                  God has always used heresies to drive His Church to
     e.g., Studies in the Sermon on the Mount; and such               the Word, so that her knowledge of the truth may be
     publications of the Reformed Free Publishing Associ-             increased and her faithfulness of life may be renewed.



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                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                      95


God uses Pent. to send us back to Holy Scripture to                          many, worship is lifeless formalism; confession of the
search it as regards its teaching concerning the Chris-                      truth is a dead tradition; Christian life is an external
tian life.                                                                   ritual; and the experience of salvation's peace and joy
   The basic appeal of Pent. is its criticism of the                         is non-existent. Always, mysticism arises against the
Christian's life and its promise of a higher, richer                         background of a decline in the spiritual life of the
Christian life; it will give power and joy. Pent. finds                      Church, especially a decline into dead orthodoxy.
much laxity, unfaithfulness, and disobedience. We do                         Thus, Pent. seduces the people with the allure of real
well to confess this. God sends this scourge upon the                        life, dynamic power, and wonderful feeling.
churches for a reason. Many have lost the first love.                           So, we ask: What is the Christian life and experi-
The love of many waxes cold. Iniquity abounds. For                           ence? What is "the normal Christian life?"

               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
   The Ladies Aid Society of the First Protestant Reformed Church of
Grand Rapids, Michigan, mourns the loss of a faithful member, MRS.                     ANNIVERSARY ANNOUNCEMENT
PAULINE SYNDERS, whom the Lord took home on October 16. We                      On November 4, 1977, our beloved brother and sister-in-law, MR.
express our sympathy to the bereaved family.                                 AND MRS. GEORGE ENGELSMA, celebrated their 30th wedding
   "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." (Psalm    anniversary.  It is our `prayer that God will continue His lovingkindness
116:15).                                                                     and faithfulness to them in the coming years.
                                      Mrs. P. Decker. Pres.                     "The Lord is my inheritance,
                                      Mrs. C. Pastoor, Se&y.                    The Lord alone remains
               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                           The fulness of my cup of bliss;
   The Adult Bible Class of Faith Protestant Reformed Church, in                The Lord.my lot maintains.
Jenison, expresses its Christian sympathy to Mr. Clarence Pastoor in the                          (Psalter No. 27, vs. 4.)
loss of his wife JEANETTE PASTOOR, on October  24,1977.
   "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy                                           The Engelsma brothers and sisters
to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Romans
B:lB                                            Rev. M. Joostans, Pres.
Book Review                                                                  with all his choices and suggestions, his ideas are well
                                                                             worth studying.
MUSIC IN THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY,  by Dale                                       One theme which the author carries throughout the
Topp; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand                                  book is that  all  Christians can and should enjoy
Rapids,  Mich., 1976. (205 pp., paperback,  $4.95)/                          music. Even those whose voices are not so beautiful
Reviewed by Prof. H.C. Hoeksema.                                             should be encouraged to develop their talents for the
   Written by a professor of music at Calvin College,                        glory of God. He urges those who have few vocal
this book tries to view music in its proper perspective                      talents to praise God on instruments or by listening
as a tool for use "in the Christian Community." In                           to others perform. The chapter on "Music in the
seven chapters the author develops the concept of the                        Christian'Home" and that on "Music in the Christian
power and importance of music in the lives of God's                          School" should help parents who want to foster an
people. Not only does he discuss the areas of life in                        enthusiasm for good music in their children.
which music enters" our lives, such as in worship                               Although the author recommends the heritage of
services and the Christian home and school, but he                           the music of the church of all ages and shows how to
also treats the many problems which arise in the                             mold the tastes, even of children, toward the classics
study and performance of music, those of the choice                          that have stood the test of time, he fails to reckon
of music, the choice of singers and instrumentalists,                        with the antithesis of good and evil in our lives, also
and the place which music should fill in the lives of                        as it shows itself in the area of music. As in all areas
Christians.                                                                  of our lives, so in music there is a line of sharp
   In the first chapter, "Worshipping God," the                              distinction between the good and edifying and the
author sets the tone of the book, using Scripture's                          secular and sensual, between music and the perversion
many references to the importance of singing and                             of music, between music in the service of God and in
instrumental praise in the lives of God's people. With                       the service of Satan. It is in this area that we would
a fine blend of scholarship and common sense, he                             disagree with the author. Particularly, for example, we
goes on to write a reasonable, well-balanced treatise on                     disapprove of the author's permissiveness with regard
the purpose and use of music, in an atmosphere of                            to the choice of rock music and with regard to the
sympathetic understanding of his fellow Christian.                           dance for teenagers. Also in the comprehensive appen-
   In his comments on proper selection of hymns he                           dix, which in general is an excellent guide for musical
shows how to select those which are solidly Scrip-                           selections, the selections from the world of rock, of
tural, singable, and whose lyrics fit the tunes; and he                      films, and from Broadway we deem to be inconsistent
makes suggestions for the improvement of congrega-                           with a life of sanctification.
tional singing. Although this reviewer cannot agree                             Qualifiedly recommended.


THE STANDARD BEARER
          P.O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506



96                                              THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                 Report of Classis East
                                                    October  5, 1977
                                                Faith Prot. Rex Church
      Classis East met in regular session on October 5th       3) Small amount of work, particularly at our July
at the Faith Prot. Ref. Church in Jenison, Michigan.           classis; 4) Classis West meets but twice a year having
All the churches were represented by two delegates.            twelve churches while we have but nine; 5) If neces-
.Rev. Van Over-loop led in opening devotions and Rev.          sary, a special meeting-can be called by the Classical
Woudenberg, in the absence of Rev. Veldman,                    Committee.
gresided.
      After the usual business of accepting the creden-          Due to Rev. Van Bar-en's accepting the call to
tials, signing of the Formula of Subscription, reports         Hudsonville, First Church requested classical appoint-
of the Stated Clerk and Classical Committee, Classis           ments and a moderator. Rev. Schipper was appointed
dealt with the issue of the frequency of its meetings.         as moderator and the following appointment sched-
Overtures from Hope, Kalamazoo, and Covenant                   uled was adopted for First: Nov. 6 - Rev. Schipper,
addressed this issue. All three overtures  requested           Nov. 13 - Rev. Joostens, Nov. 20  - Rev. Veldman,
that  classis reduce its meetings from four times to           Nov. 27  - Rev. Van Overloop, Dec. 4  - Rev. Heys,
three times a year. In addition, Hope requested that,          Dec. 11 - Rev. Woudenberg, Dec. 18  - Rev. Van
in order to avoid conflict with the meetings of Classis        Baren, Jan. 8 - Rev. den Hartog.
West,  classis meet on the second Wednesday of the               The Finance Committee reported expenses of
month rather than on the first Wednesday as is the             $362.20, the questions of Article 41 of the Church
current practice. After discussion,  classis decided to        Order were asked and answered, the concept minutes
adopt the overtures of the three churches. Classis East        were adopted; and, after the closing remarks by the
will now meet in the months of January, May, and               chairman,  classis stood adjourned. Rev. den Hartog
September on the second Wednesday of those respec-             closed the meeting with prayer. Classis will meet next
tive months. The grounds given by Hope's overture              on January 11, 1978 at Southeast.
were adopted to support this change: 1) Our church                                        Respectfully submitted,
order allows for some flexibility because of great                                        Jon J. Huisken
distance; 2) Good stewardship of time and money;                                          Stated Clerk

                                News From Our Churches
      Rev. James Slopsema declined the call extended to          Our Iowa/Minnesota churches sponsored a Ref-
him by our church in Randolph, Wisconsin. Soon                 ormation Day lecture on October 26 in the Sheldon
after they received this news, Randolph formed a new           Community Building in Sheldon, Iowa. Rev. Kamps
trio consisting of Rev. John Heys, Rev. Rodney                 of  Doon, Iowa, planned to speak on "Limited  In-
Miersma, and Candidate Kenneth Koole. After a                  errancy: Right or Wrong?" or, "Does the Bible;
recent congregational meeting, Candidate Koole re-             Contain Errors?" This western lecture was scheduled
ceived the call from Randolph.                                 the day before the Michigan area Reformation Day
      Rev.. George Lubbers, pastor of our church in Pella,     Lecture in  HudsonvilIe.  Prof. Homer Hoeksema was
Iowa, planned to spend about two weeks in Maine                to speak on "Reformation - Option or Mandate?"
toward the end of October and in early November.                 At a recent special congregational meeting, the
Beside preaching on Sunday, Rev. Lubbers planned to            Edgerton congregation voted to insulate their par-
give two midweek lectures on the subjects: "The                sonage. Randolph has also been busy with repairs to
Raging of Satan in History" and "The Infallible                their parsonage while it is vacant.
Earmark of the Last Hour."                                       During the months of October and November the ten
      During their most recent celebration of the Lord's       stations of the Family Radio network are broadcasting
Supper, the Pella congregation dedicated'their Thank           some of the sermons on Romans 9 preached by Rev.
Offering to the support of the Jamaican ministers              G. Van Baren in First Church, Grand Rapids. Some
with whom our churches have been working for some              months ago, Family Radio broadcast a series of Rev.
time: Revs. Brown, Williams, Nish, and Elliott. Rev.          Van Baren's sermons on the first chapters of the book
Nish was married on September 25 in Dias. Rev.                 of Genesis.
Brown preached the sermon.                                                                                    K.G.V.


